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לְאֹם

𐤋𐤀𐤌

lᵉʼôm

H3816 noun

SILEX Entry

Root לאם to gather, assemble collectivity

Definition

A people, nation, or population group—often used collectively for ethnic groups distinct from one's own, or in a general sense for organized social collectives. In biblical contexts, it denotes a group with shared lineage, culture, or language, without specifying precise political or geographic boundaries. Semantic range includes peoples (in the plural sense), nations (as in ethnic or political entities), and sometimes, by extension, communities.

Semantic Range

people group, nation, ethnicity, population, community, collective

Root / Etymology

Derived from a root (ל-א-מ) meaning 'to gather' or 'to assemble,' though the root does not appear in attested Hebrew verbal forms. The noun לְאֹם likely preserves the ancient sense of an assembled or coalesced group. The form לְאוֹם is a variant spelling with identical meaning.

Historical & Contextual Notes

In the Hebrew Bible, לְאֹם primarily appears in poetic or prophetic texts to denote people groups other than the primary Israelite audience. The term is used alongside גּוֹי (gôy, 'nation') and עַם (ʻam, 'people'), but while גּוֹי often denotes a nation in a political sense and ʻam more often signifies a kinship group or tribal collective, לְאֹם emphasizes ethnic, national, or cultural collectivity, sometimes without clear political organization. In later translation traditions, especially in Greek, the word is often rendered as ἔθνος (ethnos), commonly translated as 'nation' or 'Gentiles,' but without the later religious connotations of these terms. The word does not refer specifically to Israelites but is mostly used of foreign peoples, or in universalistic oracles of multiple nations. The distinction between לְאֹם and גּוֹי is not absolute, but לְאֹם is less frequent and more poetic. No direct evidence suggests a particular link to religious practice or political statehood; rather, it focuses on the idea of a gathered, collective people. Notably, some English versions render it 'people(s)' or 'nation(s),' which captures much of the meaning but sometimes misses the collectivity sense or the distinction from related terms. In later Hebrew, the word is rare or archaic, replaced by other terms.

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

xlit lᵉôm corrected to lᵉʼôm; or לְאוֹם; from an unused root meaning to gather; a community; nation, people.

Bantu Hebrew

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Root Family

לאם (l-ʾ-m) — gather, assemble, collectivity

Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
H3817 לְאֻמִּים and peoples

Word Forms

8 distinct forms

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 Occurrences
H3816-03 לְאֻמִּ֔ים leumim HNcmpa peoples assembled peoples 18
H3816-07 וּ/לְאֻמִּ֖ים uleumim HC/Ncmpa and peoples and assembled peoples 8
H3816-08 אֻמִּֽים umim HNcmpa the peoples assembled peoples 4
H3816-02 לְא֑וֹם leom HNcmsa the people assembled people-group 2
H3816-01 בַּל bal HTn among not at all 1
H3816-06 וּ/לְאוּמִּ֖/י uleumi HC/Ncmsc/Sp1cs and to my nation and my assembled-people 1
H3816-04 מִ/לְאֹ֣ם mileom HR/Ncmsa than the people assembled people-group 1
H3816-05 וּ/לְאֹם֙ uleom HC/Ncmsa and the people assembled people-group 1

Occurrences in Scripture

36 total occurrences

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1
H3816-03 Genesis 25:23 לְאֻמִּ֔ים leumim HNcmpa peoples assembled peoples
H3816-05 Genesis 25:23 וּ/לְאֹם֙ uleom HC/Ncmsa and the people assembled people-group
H3816-04 Genesis 25:23 מִ/לְאֹ֣ם mileom HR/Ncmsa than the people assembled people-group
H3816-03 Genesis 27:29 לְאֻמִּ֔ים leumim HNcmpa nations assembled peoples
H3816-03 Isaiah 17:12 לְאֻמִּ֔ים leumim HNcmpa of nations assembled peoples
H3816-03 Isaiah 17:13 לְאֻמִּ֗ים leumim HNcmpa The nations assembled peoples
H3816-07 Isaiah 34:1 וּ/לְאֻמִּ֖ים uleumim HC/Ncmpa and peoples and assembled peoples
H3816-07 Isaiah 41:1 וּ/לְאֻמִּ֖ים uleumim HC/Ncmpa and let the peoples and assembled peoples
H3816-07 Isaiah 43:4 וּ/לְאֻמִּ֖ים uleumim HC/Ncmpa and peoples and assembled peoples
H3816-03 Isaiah 43:9 לְאֻמִּ֔ים leumim HNcmpa peoples assembled peoples
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